The Rolling Stones

News about The Rolling Stones, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jan. 18, 2015

Photography book The Rolling Stones features about 500 pages of photos and illustrations from band's earliest days through present. MORE

Mar. 18, 2014

The Rolling Stones have postponed all seven concerts planned for a tour in Australia and New Zealand. MORE

Nov. 20, 2013

The next leg of the Rolling Stones 50th-anniversary tour will take them to Australia and New Zealand in the spring. MORE

Nov. 3, 2013

Workspace column; Chuck Leavell is director of environmental affairs for the Mother Nature Network, and he plays piano for the Rolling Stones; his office reflects his work with both the environment and his music--and his love of family. MORE

May. 22, 2013

If a library in England wanted to collect, Keith Richards would have to pay thousands of dollars. MORE

Apr. 3, 2013

The band will play several cities in California, as well as in Las Vegas, Toronto, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia. MORE

Dec. 10, 2012

Ben Ratliff reviews performance by band The Rolling Stones at the Barclays Center. MORE

Nov. 11, 2012

Rolling Stones, who have gone from radical hooligans to symbols of stability in the public's eye, celebrate their 50th anniversary with concerts in London and Newark as well as a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. MORE

Apr. 16, 2012

Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood amends his original announcement that the band would be heading into a recording studio to work on some new tunes, saying that no plans had been set. MORE

Feb. 5, 2012

Rolling Stones, the Chieftains, the Beach Boys and El Gran Combo have all managed to stay relevant 50 years after they formed; all four bands, as a whole, have become standard bearers for pop music, and its surprising importance. MORE

Four decades ago, the Rolling Stones made their name by defying propriety. Now they are defying age. They opened their latest tour Sunday night at Fenway Park with an audience of 36,000 filling the stands, the outfield and balconies overhanging the stage for the first of two shows here. Age can be cruel to musicians, eroding voices and stamina. But yes, the Stones can still do it.

In rock 'n' roll, idealism gets old pretty quickly. Angry young frontmen seem a lot less vital once they mature into middle-age earnest frontmen. Maybe that's why Mick Jagger still puts on such a great show -- because that seems to be the only thing on earth he really cares about. He stands for nothing, he falls for nothing, and it's starting to seem as if he -- and his band -- might last forever.

After youth, after sex appeal, after shock, after spectacle, after arrogance and long after guaranteed top-10 hits, what is left for the Rolling Stones is a simple thing -- music. The music of a classic rock backbeat, of two guitars tangling like strands of barbed wire, of a singer whose voice is a leathery bray and whose body twitches in syncopation from head to toe.

The Stones' pirate-like swagger, their unsentimental view of sex, their shimmering ballads of longing and loss are all rooted in the blues tradition, as are their gritty, unvarnished meditations on love and death - qualities that help explain why the band's work continues to endure.

The Rolling Stones never even looked innocent, as one can see on their early album covers. They were making grown-up music from the beginning, and the rocking blues on their early albums has held up almost as well as original blues recordings by Muddy Waters or Jimmy Reed. It retains its gritty integrity, whether it's blasting from a tinny portable radio or heard through earphones on audiophile pressings.